EHU Assoc. Prof. dr. Dovilė Sagatienė delivered the report titled “Unrevealed History of Lithuanian Women: Their Way towards Legal Profession” at the panel “A Question of Law: Women and Minorities, Historical and Contemporary Cases”. As Professor emphasized, the history of women entering legal profession is the history of women gaining power in general and the development during the past century in Lithuania is promising, but still not sufficient. The current pay gap in legal positions in public and private sector signals, that women are left behind in the most beneficial and rewarding positions as it also demands more skills and time, which in case of women is being devoted to taking care of the family and household.
At the roundtable “The Baltic and Nordic Response to the 2020 Crisis in Belarus – Lessons Learned and Future Opportunities” the reports were delivered by Evija Djatkoviča (Latvian Institute of International Affairs/Rīga Stardiņš University), Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha (Copenhagen Business School), Kazimierz Musiał (University of Gdansk) and EHU Alumna (Class 2015) Alesia Rudnik (Karlstad University).
Evija Djatkoviča presented the report coordinated by the Latvian Institute of International Affairs, which assesses in detail the reactions of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden to the post-election crisis in Belarus. As Evija Djatkoviča stressed, although sanctions against Belarus were decided in the EU, it is instructive to see the nuances between individual Baltic Sea states’ positionings: reactions were the sharpest in the Baltic countries.
“Multilateralism is crucial for small states like Denmark, for which strong alliances represent an alternative source of power and influence in international arena”– added Lizaveta Dubinka-Hushcha, Ph.D. in international relations and foreign policy and lecturer at Copenhagen Business School. When assessing the foreign policy of small states, it is necessary to use qualitative rather than quantitative criteria in order to understand how this state recognizes its own limitations as well as its perception by other states. Denmark was one of the countries that reacted the most swiftly to the events in August 2020 in Belarus. It has not imposed unilateral sanctions, being pro-active within the joint EU format. The Danish government has clearly taken a position of solidarity with the European and transatlantic partners, highlighting the importance of joint action. It was more careful in imposing unilateral sanctions than, i.e. Belarus’ closest neighbors. However, the analysis of Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod’s statements about Belarus’ situation does not leave any doubt that Denmark wants Belarus to be independent and democratic. This, among other things, is justified by a remarkable gesture of changing the name of the country in Danish from “White Russia” to “Belarus”, initiated by the Danish-Belarusian Culture Society BELADANIA.
Moreover, as Professor Kazimierz Musiał noted, the question of solidarity with Belarus and assistance to the people in need caused a rare situation in Polish politics. On this issue both the opposition and the government have been able to bury the hatchet and offer almost unanimous support to different measures, ranging from work and residence permits for the Belarusians wishing to migrate to Poland after the 2020 events, to material assistance to information centers that report on the developments in Belarus. The issue of providing credible and fair information is not new, since Poland has funded and professionalized news content on Belarus since 2007 when the Belsat television channel was established and funded by the Polish television. Prof. Musiał pointed also at the fact that over 60 percent of over 20 000 Belarusian migrants that settled in Poland in the past two years are in the age between 18 and 40 years old. Considering that Belarusians constitute the second largest ethnic minority group in Poland, the relatively young age of the newly arriving migrants promises the creation of a lively and industrious diaspora that will contribute to the civil society activities both in Poland and Belarus in the future.
Meanwhile, Alesia Rudnik (Ph.D. Fellow at Karlstad University) was happy to share her reflections on Sweden‘s reactions to the Belarusian crisis. Due to collaborative potential between the Belarusian diaspora in Sweden and Swedish politicians, journalists and society, Belarus was visible in the news agenda. The political will of Swedish MFA reflected in suggesting to moderate negotiations between the Belarusian regime and opposition; hosting visits of seven representatives of the Belarusian opposition; refusing to continue financial assistance to the projects with the Belarusian state institutions. Diaspora worked for pinpointing problematic areas and succeeded in stopping the EKN-credit and trade relations between Belarus and Swedish alcohol monopolist Systembolaget. Sweden demonstrated a strong willingness to assist in solving the democracy crisis in Belarus, nevertheless remained much more modest in its reactions comparing to the Baltic countries.
